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Staff profile

staff list  BackDr Mark Bennister

  • Job title: Lecturer
  • Dept: Applied Social Sciences
  • Tel: 01227 767700 ext 3837
  • Campus: Canterbury
 

Lecturer in Politics and International Relations

BA (Hons) MA, MSc, DPhil (Sussex)

Teaching Responsibilities

  • Governing the UK (Year 1)
  • EU: Continent to Community (Year 1)
  • Democracies and Alternative Regimes (Year 2)
  • Political Research and Practice (Year 2)
  • EU: Power, Politics and Integration (Year 2)
  • Critical Issues in Contemporary Politics (Year 3)

I joined the Politics and International Relations team in the Department of Applied Social Sciences in September 2010 as a Lecturer in Politics. I was previously Teaching Fellow in British Politics at University College London from 2009 to 2010 and Teaching Fellow in Politics at the University of Sussex from 2008 to 2010. I studied at the University of Sussex from 2004 to 2009 gaining a DPhil in Politics and MSc in Social Research Methods. Prior to returning to academia in 2004, I worked as an Executive Officer at the Australian High Commission in London, advising and supporting Australian diplomats. I also hold a Masters Degree in Contemporary European Studies from Loughborough University (1993) and a BA in Social Sciences from Nottingham Trent University (1987).

Research interests

My doctoral research was funded by the ESRC and considered the relationship between predominant leaders and institutional change in the core executive and the wider impact of predominant leaders. The comparative research examined prime ministerial predominance in Britain under Tony Blair and Australia under John Howard.

I have published in Parliamentary Affairs and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. I contributed a chapter 'Tony Blair as Prime Minister' to The Blair Legacy: Politics, Policy, Governance, and Foreign Affairs, (ed T. Casey), published in 2008 by Palgrave. I am currently working on material for a book titled Prime Ministers in Power: Executive Dominance in Britain and Australia to be published in 2011. I am an Honorary Associate at the UCL Constitution Unit, recently advising on a research project on Ministers Outside Parliament. I am also a Visiting Lecturer on the Tufts-in-London Programme for US students, teaching British Politics.

Recent Publications

Book

  • Single authored monograph under contract with Palgrave to be published early 2011 provisionally titled 'Prime Ministers in Power: Executive Dominance in the UK and Australia'.

Chapters

  • Bennister, M. 'Tony Blair as Prime Minister' in The Blair Legacy: Politics, Policy, Governance, and Foreign Affairs, (ed T. Casey), Palgrave 2009.

Refereed journal articles

  • Bennister, M. (2008) 'Blair and Howard: Predominant Prime Ministers Compared' in Parliamentary Affairs 61 (2) April pp334-355.
  • Bennister, M. (2007) 'Tony Blair and John Howard: Comparative Predominance and Institutional Stretch in Britain and Australia', British Journal of Politics and International Relations (3) pp327-345.

Conference papers

  • Bennister, M. (2009) 'How to Compare Prime Ministerial Predominance in Two Countries', Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Manchester University 7-9 April.
  • Bennister, M. (2009) 'Interpreting Predominance: The Strange Case of Australian Prime Minister John Howard 'Skill in Context' or Luck?' Conference Paper, Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Swansea University 1-3 April 2008.